Project description
New test for cancers of the blood and bone marrow
Each year 2.7 million people are diagnosed with cancer in the EU, while 1.3 million die from the disease, according to the European Cancer Information System. To help reverse these trends, the EU-funded SANGUINE project will focus on improving outcomes for patients with haematological malignancies (cancers that start in the blood or bone marrow), which account for 10 % of all cancer cases in the EU. The project will promote understanding, prevention, diagnosis and quality of life improvement. It will introduce a minimally-invasive blood test for detecting and classifying haematological malignancies like leukaemia and lymphoma. Based on detecting a combination of epigenetic biomarkers in patient DNA, the test will provide superior sensitivity at a low cost.
Objective
Project SANGUINE addresses the objectives raised by the Cancer Mission Call, which emerged from the growing societal challenge faced by European citizens. According to the European Cancer Information System (ECIS), each year, 2.7 million people in the EU are diagnosed with cancer. The SANGUINE project focuses on hematological malignancies, which account for 10% of those cases, and aims to target the four objectives of the Cancer Mission: (1) understanding, (2) prevention, including screening and early detection, (3) diagnosis, and (4) quality of life improvement of the patients and their relatives. The project introduces a novel minimally-invasive blood test that detects and classifies a set of hematological malignancies. The test is based on detecting a combination of epigenetic biomarkers in DNA from peripheral blood cells and in cell-free DNA. The SANGUINE test will provide superior sensitivity at low-cost which is ideal for screening purposes. This is enabled by direct fluorescent labeling of epigenetic marks in patient DNA and its analysis on a custom designed microarray – the HemaChip. SANGUINE team consists of a comprehensive and strong team of expert that will address medical, technological and social aspects of the developed diagnostic test. Expertise from the medical field includes clinical research, technology development and access to patients. This will enable optimization of the test for hematological malignancies following a user-centric approach and experiencing its implementation in “real-life” clinical settings. The social part of the team includes researchers and patient organization that will promote accessibility of the test to patients and individuals at-risk for screening, early detection and disease management, in combination with a study aiming to increase the screening rates. Ultimately, our project will provide validated reagents, HemaChips and data analysis software ready for large scale screening and early stage commercialization.
Fields of science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdata science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftware
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsDNA
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncology
- engineering and technologymedical engineeringmedical laboratory technologylaboratory samples analysis
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.2.1 - Health Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
69978 Tel Aviv
Israel